she joins us now from san diego, along with dr. j.j. leavenstein in los angeles. so let's begin with you, kyla. how are you feeling? >> thanks for having me. pretty good. we had the kidney surgery just three weeks ago, and both my sister and i are recovering. >> okay. >> we're doing a lot better. >> that's great, but i know it's been a long haul along the way. how old were you when you contracted meningitis? >> i was 38. >> how do you suppose you were exposed to it? >> we have no idea. the doctors have no idea. i guess you can catch it like a common cold and just some people are more susceptible. >> and what were the symptoms for you? what point did you realize something was wrong? >> my memory is unclear, but i had a fever and vomiting and felt very sick. and i knew something was wrong. >> because it could be confused with a whole lot of other things. >> i guess that's true, but i was sick during the evening and in the morning, i never called the ambulance -- a friend did, but i said you need to call an ambulance. i knew something severe was going on. >> once you